..but I’m barely legal to drink. I’ve never endured more than a few hours of Benny Hill, cumulatively, in my life. I get bored of blooper reels long before they could fill an afternoon of youtubeing. Why didn’t I have to google it? I’m a little confused now. I feel like this means I have some kind of a problem, but I’m not sure what it is.

Drawing some douchbag ducklips in that first panel would be very difficult so the tongue was a good alternative. That thump was a nice understatement and added to my take on the expession on the cameraman’s face. I like how you drawing style let’s us fill in between the lines, as it were.

They do have precautions against that sort of thing… off the top of my head:

1) All parachutes get “packed” (properly folded and arranged in the pack) by trained professionals, e.g. the instructors. Packing a parachute properly is a Big Deal and a major question of trust — newbies are not trusted to pack their own.

Yes, they do, but not quite like that. As an active skydiver, I feel the need to address a few points in your comment.

1) Parachutes packed by people not jumping them are usually packed by people called… “packers”, believe it or not. They’re usually skydivers themselves, but rarely instructors. Packing doesn’t pay nearly as much as instructing. And it’s less fun, too. Also, packing a main parachute is no-where near as complicated as it’s usually made out to be. I’ve seen experienced skydivers compete in packing their own parachutes blindfolded or in a phone booth. Never at the same time though.

2) Yes, very nearly everyone these days jumps with what’s called an Automatic Activation Device, AAD, that opens your reserve parachute at a very low altitude if you’re still in free fall at that stage.

3) “…pull their backup ripcord if needed” Almost. If the student doesn’t pull at the predefined altitude, the freefall instructors will go for the student’s main parachute as the first option.